Harvey Weinstein Has Been Kicked Out of Motion Picture Academy

Harvey Weinstein has officially been ousted from the Academy of Motion Picture of Arts and Sciences.

Earlier this week the Academy called for an emergency meeting over the weekend to discuss the disgraced studio mogul and the numerous allegations of rape and sexual harassment from dozens of women. The New York Times reports that on Saturday morning, the Academy’s 54 members of the board of directors voted “overwhelmingly” to “immediately expel” Weinstein. The Academy released a statement saying that the vote was “well in excess of the required two-thirds majority.” As Vox reports, Weinstein is the second person to be stripped of Academy membership; the first was Godfather actor Carmine Cardi, ousted for sharing VHS screeners.

In the statement, the AMPAS board of governors said the decision was not just to distance themselves from the former Weinstein Company head, but to send a message that “the era of willful ignorance and shameful complicity in sexually predatory behavior and workplace harassment in our industry is over.” Read the statement in full below, as tweeted by Ronan Farrow:

The Academy’s decision is major considering Weinstein’s influence on Oscar campaigning and awards season history. Myriads of films distributed by Miramax and The Weinstein Company, both of which he co-founded with his brother Bob Weinstein, have garnered over 300 nominations and numerous wins over the years. But this decision to expel Harvey Weinstein from the Academy is likely just the beginning of industry changes and conversations to come around membership and allegations of sexual misconduct. Questions are bound to come up around other controversial Academy members and alleged abusers, like Bill Cosby, Roman Polanksi, and Mel Gibson.

Weinstein’s ousting from the Academy follows the BAFTA‘s decision earlier this week to suspend his membership. The Times released the first major report of allegations against Weinstein, followed by Farrow’s explosive New Yorker exposé in which more than a dozen women came forward with stories about sexual assault and harassment involving Weinstein. Ashley Judd, Rose McGowan, Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Asia Argento are just a few of the actresses who have come forward with allegations. Multiple actors, from Jennifer Lawrence to Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep, have spoken out against Weinstein, while a small few have come to his defense, including Lindsay Lohan and Oliver Stone.

While the Weinstein Company fired the studio mogul, Bob Weinstein released a statement on Friday that “business is continuing as usual“ at the studio with no intentions of selling or shutting down. In the mean time, the NYPD has opened an investigation into the allegations and to “determine if there are additional complaints” against the producer.